A Second Chance
by GrimSpeck18
Summary: What would you do if you woke up to find out you were actually one of Orochimaru's experiments... set free by none other than Sasuke Uchiha and his illusive group team Hawk? Would you follow them blindly? Or do something more adventurous? M for a REASON!
1. Chapter 1: Blue Light

The sound of her breathing seemed deafening in the chill silence. The crunch of snow underneath her trainers was like a soft background beat. _Crunch crunch_ huff huff _crunch crunch_ **cough** huff. It was the pattern of the sounds and her anger to get away that kept her going.

She'd recently been diagnosed as a severe bipolar, but when the news broke out, everyone left except for her boyfriend... now ex-boyfriend. He'd used her mood shifts to take advantages of her both emotionally and sexually His abuse had gotten so severe, she'd left in nothing but a pair of keds, skinny jeans and a sweatshirt.

"I guess I'm lucky I had a bra on..." she said quietly, trying to huddle her thin shirt closer to her. She let her mind wander to happier times as she walked the side of the road and the snow steadily fell. If she kept up her pace she'd be able to find that forest path a ways down and make a short cut, then she'd be near a bus stop in under an hour. It seemed like the perfect plan, almost as perfect as the back country road she was walking.

It was hard to know quite where she was though... the road wasn't travelled on much and there were no houses, no painted lines, no lights, no wires, no telephone lines... It felt like she was 100 years in the past. The snow covered everything and it was almost a foot deep now. She was almost to the path, she could see it to the right up ahead in the trees, when she heard something crunching through the snow a ways back down the road. However, the turns in the road, the trees, and the snow kept her from seeing anything farther back than about 50 ft. She was paused for a moment listening, turned back towards the sound, but then it stopped. She shrugged whatever it was off (even though she was still paranoid), and then turned back to walking. Probably just an animal or a random car she told herself over and over. Just as she was starting back up to her brisk pace again she heard it a second time. It was the distinct sound of snow sloshing around and the crunch of packed snow under weight. She turned back once more, but again there was nothing. She sighed. She hoped that maybe it was a car, even though it seemed unlikely in these conditions.

Once again she began walking and for a while everything was the same. _Crunch crunch... _sound of her feet. The same quiet that snow brought, the same solitude on the back road that only she traveled. In the distance she heard quiet voices. It was so soft, she could barely here it, but it was loud enough that it stopped her in her tracks. She stood, huffing to catch her breath from stopping so suddenly in cold. The words were too far away for her to hear, but it was obvious that the voice was short and repeating. There was no other sounds, just a single voice. She turned circles in place, cupping a hand at her ears, but she couldn't pinpoint what direction it was coming from. It was so mysterious, so subtle, so captivating in the fact that it was unknown. She wanted to find out what it was. She stood still as she could and held her breath. Still she couldn't pinpoint it.

Suddenly, it sounded like it was right next to her ear, right behind her. The words were so clear, so haunting, it sent chills up her spine.

"Kate! Kate! It's me, Caleb! Come back! Where are you? Kate! Kate! It's me, Caleb!..."

She turned around just in time to see two bright, distinct lights of a car and the screeching of wheels against snow, and feel pain as she'd never felt before. She could hear the words echoing in the distance, a scream (although she wasn't sure who's, was it hers?), and then everything was hazy. The pain had reverberated throughout her body, but she didn't care. She had to get away from him. She had to get away. Away! Away! Please, she begged silently, I have to get away! And then, suddenly, everything was black, and all the sounds stopped. Everything was gone.

Sasuke stood in front of the huge door, while Jugo peeked at him through the crack.

"If Kimimaro's not here, I can't go outside!" Jugo whispered.

The group outside the door was quiet for a moment before Suigetsu spoke.

"Kimimaro? You me of the Kaguya clan?"

"Yeah," Karin replied, "Jugo and Kimimaro were Orochimaru's favorite lab rats. They were both imprisoned together here for live experimentation, so Kimimaro was probably the one person Jugo trusted within this organization. And Kimimaro was strong too, I heard he was the only one who could stop Jugo's rampages without harming his fellow precious research subject."

"But I thought that guy was-"

"Jugo." Sasuke cut in before Suigetsu could finish, "Kimimaro died for me. He's gone."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"He died for you?" Jugo bit out, "Then... you're Uchiha Sasuke?"

"That's right." Sasuke said softly.

It was quiet for a few moments, while Jugo thought over everything Kimimaro had said before he'd left. Maybe it would be okay after all...maybe Sasuke could Kimimaro's replacement, his new shield. He pulled the door open and walked out.

Soon after, together, the group walked out of the Northern hideout in silence. Once in a while, an inmate would walk forward and try to start up a fight, but Suigetsu would rush forward and knock them out (and receive glares from Sasuke if he was too rough). By the time they'd gotten outside it was hotter than it had been earlier, but it wasn't uncomfortable, so they re-grouped in front of a large rock formation. Karin stood, one hand on a hip, Jugo stood silently like a tower, and Suigetsu was sipping on his water canister and grinning toothily at Karin, who shot glares at him. Sasuke stood in front of them and looked at them expressionlessly.

"My goal," he began, moving all of their attention to him, "is to kill Akatsuki member Uchiha Itachi. I want your help."

"Thought so..."Suigetsu said to the side.

"But first," Sasuke said, turning to Karin, "Karin, you said you had some business to take care of, what is it?"

"R-right... um, well...it wasn't really that much..." Karin began stuttering.

"Sheesh, can't you be honest for once?" Suigetsu said, smirking at Karin, "You're just in this cause you want to be near Sasuke. See? You're even stuttering. So obvious!"

Karin didn't even answer, she just slapped Suigetsu, who turned into water and laughed.

"Suigetsu, stop egging Karin on. Karin, ignore him." Sasuke bit out, glaring evenly at both. "Now, Karin, what was it?"

"Well," Karin began, "There's supposedly another hideout somewhere near here. Only Orochimaru himself went in, and no one, not even Kabuto, has been inside. Since you killed Orochimaru, it's safe to enter... plus, you'd be able to access it, right?"

"So you're plan is to find it and figure out what he was hiding?" Sasuke said evenly, no emotion leaking through.

"Well, y-yes."

"Sounds like a load of crap to me." Suigetsu said to the side.

"Wherever Sasuke goes, I will follow." Jugo said to no one in particular.

"Hn, Fine. Perhaps there might be something of use to us. We'll find it, finish there, and continue on to get supplies for our journey. Karin, lead the way."

The hideout was easy to find, since Sasuke could easily access particular thoughts and memories after having absorbed Orochimaru. It was well hidden, even with the Sharingan Sasuke didn't think he could have found it without the help of the absorption (but his emotionless face said otherwise).

Then, to make things even more difficult it took a correct DNA sample of Orochimaru's blood in order to get the door to open. After correctly opening it (once again, thanks to the absorption) the group slowly made their way inside. Sasuke lead, while Suigetsu and Karin followed, Jugo taking up the rear. The steps were literally carved out of the stone, and the walls and ceiling just barely fit Jugo, who was constantly crouching down. As the steps began angling down, and the group got farther from the door, it grew darker and darker. There were no lights, no flames, nothing to light the way.

"I knew Orochimaru was a creeper, but seriously..." Suigetsu began.

"Shut up. You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you? Ugh, so annoying. Why did you have to come?" Karin bit back.

"Whatever, I'm just saying that this fit's the bill, right? I mean, why no lights?" Suigetsu replied.

"Because that would take chakra." Jugo answered.

Suigetsu and Karin stopped bickering and turned to the direction of the previously silent giant.

"What?" Suigetsu asked, looking a little lost in the dim light.

"If there were lights, they would have to be run by chakra, since there's no electricity out here. But there's no chakra so that sensor type ninjas like Karin wouldn't be able to locate it. It's a wise precaution. Snake's see by different means than light at night, so I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru could see perfectly fine in these halls." *

"And how would you know about snakes?" Karin said, changing her stance to lean on her hip.

"Because I can communicate with animals. Orochimaru ran tests with this ability."

"Hn." Sasuke replied, and the group turned to him again. "Let's keep moving. I want this over with fast, Karin."

The group once again fell in step behind Sasuke, feeling their way down the steps and walls as the light grew steadily less and less. Finally it was pitch black and the steps had leveled out into flat ground.

"Wow, almost 400 steps. Woo, I'm tired. Time for a break." There was a rustling that was followed by the slurping sounds of Suigetsu's straw.

"God damn it! Again? We just stopped a while ago! If I could see you right now..." Karin said, her livid tone causing the shuffle of Suigetsu's feet to move away from the sound of her voice. Next came the sound of hissing snakes.

"Wha? Snakes? Where-" began Karin, but then Jugo's calm voice broke through- "They're Sasuke's summons. He's using them to find and open the door." Suddenly the stone corridor they were standing in was illuminated with a soft blue light.

"What the-" Suigetsu began.

"Enough. The door is over here. Move towards the light." Sasuke's voice came from the direction of the light. The group shuffled towards it and finally moved into a large room with a circularly vaulted ceiling. There was nothing in the room except for two things: a large shelf of hundreds of glass bottles that circled the walls of the room, and in the center of the room was a huge glass cylindrical tank that was filled with a liquid that glowed a soft blue that lit up the room.

"Holy Crow. What is this, some super secret creeper lab?" Suigetsu barked out. He made his way over to a shelf and peered at the glass vials. "Seriously, it's like floating organs and little shriveled animals again... "

"Shut up, Suigetsu." Karin spat, "If I remember correctly you were just like that at one point in time... a caged little mess up in a tank."

Suigetsu shot her a menacing glare.

"Just you watch, hellcat. One day..."

"Pff, as if you could do anything."

"Suigetsu, Karin. Enough. Did I not make it clear earlier, that you would cooperate? Now, Karin, what is this?"

"What?"

Karin turned towards Sauske's voice only to find he and Jugo standing in front of the tank. She moved towards them, Suigetsu following her. It was the first time she'd noticed the tank, and under closer inspection it was astounding.

Inside of the tank, floating gently in a mock fetal position was a girl, no older than 20. She was childish looking and small, covered in only a small pair of white underwear and what appeared to be a hospital gown. The fabric flowed in midair due to the water, but the way it curled around her it made her look surreal. Her long dark hair flowed up towards the top of the tank, while her hands curled in towards herself.

"Who the heck is she?" Suigetsu questioned out loud while pointing, breaking the silence.

"I have no idea." Karin replied, for once quiet and at a loss for words.

"Another experiment?" Jugo asked.

"Hn." Sasuke answered.

They broke away from their trance and each moved throughout the room searching for clues. Sasuke remained staring at the tank raking Orochimaru's memories for anything that would aide them. After about 20 minutes of looking, Jugo called out to him.

"Sasuke."

Said man turned and walked over to the inmate bent over a shelf. He paused when they stood side to side and looked at him for an explanation.

"There were scrolls over here. This one's got notes."

"What does it say?" Suigetsu called from across the room.

"Not much, except that she's apparently been created from something he calls a 'dimensional slip'. Apparently she's an anomaly of some kind."

"Does it say anything else?" Karin queried from nearby, having made her way to where they stood.

"No. But it says something about someone named 'Keito' and chakra. I can't read his writing well, it seems like he was in a hurry or something... half of it's blot out or been destroyed by water damage of some sort."

"Keito? Who the heck is Keito? Whatever, why don't we skip outta this place? It's obvious Karin just wanted to travel somewhere dark and secluded to rape Sasuke..." Suigetsu sputtered out, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Shut up Suigetsu. I'm guessing Keito is her..."

"Pff, _you_ shut up hellcat..."

"So what do we do about this woman, Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

They were all quiet as Sasuke stared at the tank, pondering.

"What was she supposed to be used for? What use is she? Orochimaru's memories have nothing..." Sasuke asked, turning back to the scroll Jugo was holding. "Check the other scrolls."

Jugo handed the scroll to Sasuke, and began to leaf through the others, while Karin took the scroll from Sasuke and began reading.

"KeitoR1146. Dimensional slip, chakra a-t-n -d r-g p-r-. As- till 11-2-333 is available. -s -i-ly v-. Dark blue r- ..., _" _Karin read, "That's it. There aren't any more lines, but it looks like he was going to write more, and what is there is mostly destroyed."

"Well, he's got the dark and blue right. That's exactly how I'd describe what we came through." Suigetsu added. Karin sent him a glare.

"Sasuke," Jugo called again, " I found another. This one distinctly says that the 'Keito' character _is_ her. I'm guessing it's her name. It also says that _she's_ the 'dimensional slip', that somehow she can control it. I'm not sure what that means, but... I'd need more time and better light to read what's written"

"Hn." Sasuke answered. "Jugo bring all the scrolls. Suigetsu get her out of there. Karin, see if there's anything for her to wear."

As Sasuke began walking towards the door, the three others began their individual tasks. Karin was looking around the room and Juugo was stuffing scrolls into his arms. Suigetsu had unclasped his sword from his back and clicked it together.

"Suigetsu, don't kill her." Karin reprimanded, and instead of continuing the search for clothes, she began searching the bottom of the glass tank for a hatch or open switch.

"Sure, like there's just going to be a big button that-"

_Click_.

With a soft f_woosh_ sound the cylinder slid up into the sealing and the water began leaking out the bottom by the gallon.

"Figures." Suigetsu said with a sigh.

The girl in the tank slid down towards the bottom as the water level continued to plummet. Soon she was laid out on the bottom platform of the tank, wet and still unconscious. Karin sat down on her haunches and reached out two fingers to feel for a pulse.

"Is she dead?" Suigetsu said, poking the girl's wet thigh with a finger.

Karin slapped his hand away.

"Don't poke her like that you pervert!" She hissed.

"Is she?" Said Sasuke, scaring Karin onto her feet.

"Uh, y-yes Sasuke! I mean, n-no! She's alive! But in some sort of comatose state... I'm not sure how she breathed in that water or got food... Uh..."

"Hn."

Sasuke moved to pick up the girl and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Let's get going. I want to make it to the Uchiha compound by tomorrow evening. Karin, are you finished here?"

"Y-yes Sasuke!"

And so, they made their way back up the stairs and out into the evening, traveling at a fast pace towards the South.

*At night or in darkness snakes don't see using their eyes or light. They use special glands in their noses that can sense infrared radiation that warm animals give off. I figured Orochimaru would be able to see like that since he was basically a snake...

Author's notes:

This is the re-written, better thought out version of my old story "Trapped by Ninjas". This chapter has also been re-written since it was first posted. I got a complaint about language, but I'm only editing it to a certain extent. Please note that this is rated M for MATURE. This means that there will be language and adult situations throughout this story. If that offends or bothers you, please leave and don't read.

On a side note the part where they pick up Jugo was taken directly from the comic. I'm trying to make this run in line with Canon and jump back and forth between my plot and Kishimoto's.


	2. Chapter 2: Awakening

"Alright, we'll stop here and set up a mock camp for the night. As soon as the sun rises, we set out again." Sasuke said calmly, stopping next to a large rock formation that formed a crescent around a small area of flat ground. He adjusted the weight of the still comatose girl off of his shoulder and gently laid her down on the ground.

"Ah, it was about time," Suigetsu said, stretching his arms above his head. He was instantly sucking on his water bottle again.

"You're just lazy...wha? You're drinking again?! What are you, a Kappa?!" Karin bit out, while moving to sit down on a nearby rock to the left of where she'd been standing.

"Why you-"

"Suigetsu." Sasuke said, his even tone clearly conveying exactly what he meant.

"_What_? Every time she says something bitchy I get chastised for it?!" Suigetsu growled out. Sasuke just sent him a glare which was met by Suigetsu's sigh of defeat.

The group began quietly setting up camp after that. While they didn't have the ability to make hot food (due to lack of wood), they still had cold survival pack meals. Juugo was carefully taking them from one of Sasuke's travel scrolls, while Karin and Suigetsu began laying out the blankets. They didn't have proper sleeping bags, but it worked for the night. When they were finished setting up, the group turned to Sasuke but found he was still sitting next to the comatose girl. She was laid down, but he had positioned her head onto his lap so that she wasn't just thrown on the dirt. He was inspecting her, staring intently before he began to examine her hands, her nails, her ears, eyes and all her other aspects.

"Sasuke? Jugo asked softly.

"She's normal. There's nothing unusual about her, except the fact that her nose and ears were plugged to resist water. I'm not sure how she breathed, if at all...."

_What use is she? Why was she such a secret? When will she wake up? _The questions kept forming... one thing was for sure, though, they'd have to wait till she awoke to know.

"Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked, but not nearly as soft as Jugo.

"Hn?" Sasuke answered, but didn't look toward him, too lost in thought.

"Why'd we take her anyways? She's kinda a dead weight."

Sasuke's eyes rose up, only to fix a glare on him.

"Are you questioning my reasoning, Suigetsu?"

"Nah, why'd you think something like that?"

"Hn." Sasuke paused and looked back towards the girl. "She was obviously something of great importance and secrecy to Orochimaru. She's something even I, his most trusted, didn't know of. I'm pretty sure we'll be tracked from here on out by hunter-nin and village teams, the most obvious being Leaf. I'd rather we not allow anything so significant to aid them in stopping our mission."

"And you think this chick is that powerful? How would they use her against us?"

"It's all theory, Suigetsu," Jugo responded, "If she can control dimensions, as is suggested by Orochimaru's notes... then perhaps she'd be of some use to our enemies. Why would we leave them that chance? It's plausible that she'll be useful to Sasuke, just like us."

"And if she isn't?" Karin spat out, giving a glare towards where the girl's head rested on Sasuke's lap.

"Then we'll omit her from the picture." Sasuke finished. Karin seemed to sneer at that, while Suigetsu sighed deeply and sipped more water. Jugo stared off towards where the sun was setting.

"Karin, pass out the meals. Suigetsu, a blanket?" Sasuke held out his hand for the blanket while they began eating from the dinners Karin had given out. He gently took the blanket and laid it over the girl, who was still wet and mostly naked save for the thin hospital-like clothes. They'd need to get her suitable travel clothes when they got to the hideout, regardless of her mental and physical state. It was a pain to worry about her undress.

Sasuke had first watch, so soon after the team was finished the meal, he situated himself on a rock higher above the encampment. Looking down to where the team was settling in he realized that Karin and Suigetsu had set up near each other. It was only seconds after noticing this that they began to fight and argue. He could hear Jugo's deep sigh and was tempted to make one of his own. It was going to be a long night...

- - - - -

There was something prodding her side right by her ribs. It wasn't painful, just enough to be noticeable. And annoying. She didn't really want to move her arm, but she moved it anyways.. It lazily slapped the offending object away and the prodding sensation stopped. However, no sooner had her arm pulled back to rest at her side comfortably then the prodding sensation started again, only this time harder. Whatever it was, was in for it.

"God damn it." She muttered sleepily. She gently rolled over onto her stomach as she rubbed her tired, closed eyes. She began a great yawn as her right hand moved toward the general direction of where her alarm clock normally was. If the time was earlier than noon whoever had disturbed her slumber had a painful death in their future.

However, her hand never met the wood of the bedside table. Or the plastic alarm clock. It met something soft. And warm. And covered in cloth.

It took her brain 2 seconds to register the sensation before she shot up and panicked. Her eyes were still blurry from sleep but she could make out the shapes of people and surroundings that didn't look like her room. What the hell? She wondered.

"What the fuck? Where the hell am I?" She bit out. If she'd been kidnapped whoever had stolen her was in for it.

"Well isn't someone cranky. Pff, we picked up a real winner all right. She even _gropes_ in her sleep! " A voice near her left said. It was a man's voice, but it had a sarcastic drawl to it that almost seemed too cocky to be healthy.

"Well, I didn't want her here in the first place, so don't blame me! Hey, get up all ready sleeping beauty. We're not running a bed and breakfast here." Snapped a woman's voice from a distance away. She didn't sound like anyone pleasant to be around.

"You shouldn't have prodded her like that. She looks ill." A deep male voice to right said.

"She's fine. Prodding her helped. See? She's almost completely awa-"

Suddenly she was wet and cold. Someone had taken cold water and thrown it over her.

"Holy SHIT!" She cried out, shaking her hair and wiping the cold water from around her eyes. "What the fuck! I was already awake!"

"Hn." Said a third male voice from right next to her. It was terse, but velvety.

"What the hell, bastard! Get that stick out of your ass and leave me the hell alone! Where the fuck am I? Who the hell are you people?" She yelled back, fully aware of her surroundings now. The man that had dumped the water was walking away to her right, while the man that had been presumably poking her was still next to her.

The man that had poked her was pale and in his mid twenties if his age could be suggested by looks. He had cheery but sinister eyes that were blue but appeared almost purple in the lighting of the early morning sun. His face was cracked into a smirking smile that showed of teeth that had been shaved into points. He was crouched over toward her, his hand and finger still positioned as if he was going to poke her again. But what drew her attention the most was his incredibly blond hair, so platinum it could be mistaken for white.

Sitting next to him was a huge man that was in a hospital like set of clothes. His dark red hair stuck up in odd messy strands from around his face and in the back while his large eyes watched Kate quietly. While his size marked him as a force to be reckoned with his eyes suggested a caring man with gentle tendencies. Perched on his shoulders were multiple birds that chirped and whistled in the morning air.

"Having a nice time staring, sleeping beauty?" Asked the female voice from earlier. Kate quickly turned to take in the woman leaning again a tree. Her asymmetrical bright red hair flowed around her face while large black rimmed glasses framed calculating eyes that looked at Kate coldly. Her lips were drawn into a disinterested pout while her arms were crossed over her chest. She was dressed strangely, but it her clothes reminded Kate of something... something familiar....

It took all of a few seconds for Kate to process the information. These people were dressed as Naruto Cosplay characters...as team Hawk.

Completely disregarding her circumstances she began a low giggle which slowly built up until it was all out hysterical laughter. She was so close to crying from the hilarity of it all... she had been kidnapped, it seemed, by crazy cosplayers. Or was this all a dream? If it was, then she'd definitely eaten something wickedly wrong for her system.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, this is just too good to be true. Seriously, cosplayers? Haha..." She could feel the tears brimming at the tips of her eyelashes and her abs hurt from shaking so hard. As she took a second to wipe her eyes with her palm, she noticed the group was staring at her intently. The Jugo and Sasuke cosplayers were calm, but the other two were gaping at her... which was just as it should be, she thought.

"You have to understand why this is all so funny, right? I mean, who ever heard of being kidnapped by cosplayers?"

"Cosplayers?" The Suigetsu look-a-like mouthed, while the Karin just breathed out a loud "EH?".

"Oh my god," Kate breathed in, her mind freezing for a minute, "You're psychos, _aren't you!_ You think you're really them? Oh my god, this is just like that one CSI episode... oh my god!" She was leaping from one hypothesis to the next, she knew, and each one was more ridiculous... but all of them seemed totally acceptable compared to the silent plea she kept coming up with: _please let Narutoverse be real._

The group was still staring down at her as though she was nuts... or maybe a lab specimen... either way it was making the shivers crawl up her back. She grasped the first thought that came to mind and went with it.

"Don't get me wrong you guys! I mean, you guys are great! You've got team Hawk cosplay down pat! I mean, 'Suigetsu' how did you get your teeth like that? Are they real?"

'Suigetsu' looked at her like she was nuts for a second before pulling a duel smirk and glare.

"Of _course_ they're real! My clan has always filed their teeth! It's to intimidate enemies and show our allegience! But most of all, it's to-"

"Eat you with." 'Karin' spat out, her looks towards Kate getting colder and colder by the minute. Perhaps it was because Kate hadn't commented on her cosplay yet?

"Enough." 'Sasuke' bit out. The whole group fell silent and the air seemed to freeze. He walked over and crouched down to where she was sitting (still wet) and stared at her with an intensity she'd never been looked at with before. It wasn't just intimidating, it was down right creepy.

"H-hi?" Kate tried. But the emotionless mask and stare stayed put.

"How do you know our names?"

The question took Kate a moment to process. And in the end, she settled with stating the obvious.

"Um, because you're characters in my favorite manga?"

If there was ever a time of awkward silence and crickets, it was now.

Karin drew in a deep breath. "Manga? What are you lying about?! Sasuke, this girl-"

"Is messed up," Suigetsu finished, "I think being in that tank boggled her brains or something."

"What tank!?" Kate spat out just as quick, cutting Suigetsu short. "What are you talking about?"

"They're mentioning the water filled tank we found you in in Orochimaru's hideout. You don't have any recollection about it?" Jugo asked softly.

And that was when time froze for Kate. She found herself looking around her more closely, whether it was Sasuke's sword or Karin's glasses, or the rock formations. Finally she looked down at her hands and her scantily clad body. What was going on? Was this... real? This called for something important.

_Slap!_

Kate quickly slapped her palms against her cheeks in an effort to wake herself up from the dream. But nothing happened, save the typical burning sensation that followed the slap of skin on skin. Soon it trickled down to tingling, but still Kate wasn't sure.

"Alright, I'm not psycho. But prove this isn't a dream! Um... Sasuke!" She pointed to him, "If Sasuke were real, he'd be able to do cool stuff that normal people couldn't! He'd be able to do cool **ninja** stuff.... Um.... do a jutsu!"

He stared at her for a while, calculating (it seemed), and then made a few hand signs. It was so fast Kate could barely follow them. Suddenly there was a soft "sssss" noise like oil in a cooking pan and a cloud of smoke right next to him. And then, there were _two_ of Sasuke. Kate stared, and stared, until she felt her eyes would fall out. Inside her head, a mantra repeated over and over again: _It's REAL. _

"I-I-...You..." She sat there grasping for something to say she snapped into an upright position and stood, pointing right at Sasuke. "You just made a clone!" She yelped out, and then started jumping up and down.

"It's real! **It's real! Really REALLY **_**REAL!**_" She chanted again and again, until she couldn't breathe. She quickly turned to 'Suigetsu' and took his cheeks into her hands. His eyes were huge and his cheeks were squished into her tight grip. "It's REAL!!!" she squeaked, "The chakra, the ninjas, the battles, the jutsus, the ninjas!"

The scared man in her grip raised his eyebrows. "You said 'ninjas' twice." he said.

"I _know!" _she said happily. She knew she was grinning like a mad man and acting like a spoiled fan girl, but if there was any occasion for it, it was then.

"You know what this means?" He shook his head 'no'. "It's means, I don't have to go to school anymore. No more drama, no more Nazi mom, no more boring life! I get to run, and do ninja stuff! I get to do everything I've always _dreamed_ of!" She smiled at him so broadly her cheeks hurt and turned to find herself, once again, face to face with black eyes.

"Enough of this," Sasuke spat out, "Who are you and what are you doing? What are you talking about?"

"Oh..." Kate said, her face falling and her mind coming back to "earth", "Um, well... uh... where do I begin? I mean..."

"How about at the beginning?" Jugo suggested quietly from where he sat. He'd seemingly distanced himself from her since she woke up... maybe she'd gone a little overboard...

"Well, I'm Kate," She began. "Aside from that... I'm not really sure what's real and what isn't... I mean, as far as I know..." She paused. There were lots of ways she could think about this. She could have lived her whole life in the "real world" and been sucked into a manga issue... or she could have been transported to this "universe" via magic or a jutsu... or, it was a Matrix getup, where her whole other life was just a facade and she'd spent her whole life as a test tube subject... which by the sound of what the group had mentioned in passing, the whole "tank" thing....maybe that one was the most likely?

"Well... as far as I know, everything I think I know about myself or what happened to me might not be real. Maybe it was a dream I had while I was in that tank thing you were talking about... or maybe it was real and I was transported there? I'm not really sure anymore..." she said quietly, slowly slipping into thought again.

"Hm..." Jugo muttered. The rest of the group was quiet too, lost in thought.

"Well," Jugo began again, "It's obvious you're as unsure about your situation as we are. However, how about we all sit down for breakfast and get situated and then we'll go from there. You can tell us your side of the story, and we'll tell you ours. Deal?"

Kate didn't know what was better, the fact that they were open to possibilities and taking her in, or the fact that she got breakfast. At this point she was incredibly hungry and food (not matter what it was) sounded wonderful.

"Sit. Breakfast is cold. Explain how you know our names and what you're purpose is." Sasuke bit out emotionlessly. It wasn't warm or friendly when it was said like that. But Kate was beginning to learn that's how Sasuke was: terse, to the point. Why put emotion into it if it wasn't necessary? He stood there until she nodded and said,

"Okay."

He almost seemed like he was smiling (although he wasn't), but then he turned away from her and went to sit back down. They all slowly moved back towards the blankets and settled in. When they'd all sat and looked back, Kate realized that she was still standing in the same place, gripping her hands together in a tight knot of agitation and worry. She felt like she was going to cry, or stop breathing from the sheer weight of everything, when Suigetsu started waving and called out,

"Come _on_ already! I've been wanting to eat since before you woke up! But _someone _wouldn't let me!" He looked at Sasuke pointedly.

Kate couldn't help herself. He looked over to her new acquaintances and smiled. They'd talk it through and maybe somehow, this would all turn out okay after all.

- - - - -

-*-*-*-

Author's notes:

I'm sorry about the lax updates since I began this again. I've had a hectic semester with new medical issues and a lot of stress. It was only today that I realized I hadn't updated in what seemed like forever... I figure I'll do it as stress relief from now on? So I WILL be updating frequently. From now on, I will strive to have a new chapter posted each _MONDAY_, so please be on the lookout if you are a close follower.

Also, the plot will continue to follow more closely with the old TBN (TrappedByNinjas) as these chapters go on. The most obvious change was chapter one, but I hope you get a feel for why I changed it now... I recently re-watched the Matrix and I figured that perhaps all the stories we read and like are actually the real worlds and this one is just a fake? I'm not sure 100% but I figured it was better than making up some random bad guy with Sharingan like eyes that kidnaps me to Narutoverse like I had planned in TBN... it just seemed... too typical and trite?

Either way, I can't thank you enough for not giving up on me... and I feel like such a bitch for not updating sooner. Please forgive me! -prostrates self-

-GS18


	3. Chapter 3: Keito

Kate sat on the thin blanket she'd woken up on and stared at the group eating 'breakfast'. In all honesty, it wasn't any breakfast she'd ever eaten. _Yeah, definitely not breakfast,_ she thought, looking down at the little wrapped squares she'd been given. It was like some cutesy kind of army food or freeze dried TV dinner. Or maybe a Slim Fast package deal? After the group had agreed to have 'breakfast', Karin had taken out a scroll which made sizzling noises like a frying pan and smoked. After the smoke cleared there sat 4 little packs of 'food'. Of course, the ninja survival food was basically a few super dried out bars that as far as Kate was concerned, weren't edible. She looked over to where Jugo was calmly using his super strength to break them into manageable pieces and Suigetsu was literally gnawing them apart like a dog..._definitely not edible_. Sasuke hadn't been hungry, or maybe he was just being Sasuke, but he'd thrown his over to her and moved to sit on a large boulder above the encampment and was sitting like a vulture purveying the area. Karin had done her part to glare at Kate and mumble something about 'moochers' and 'whores'. It seemed that even in a group of weirdos, Kate stood out... which wasn't much help for her already tattered nerves. Maybe if she wasn't half naked? Why was she wearing a hospital gown anyways? How'd she get here?

"So..." Suigetsu started out loud while ripping apart the last of his breakfast blocks and stuffing them in his face, "How about we start story time?"

"Ugh!" Karin spat out, proceeding to swap him across the back of the head, "Can't you shut up for just a minute?! Why must you always be so-"

"Karin," Sasuke interrupted quietly from where he sat above them. She instantly clammed up and was quiet, but she still did her part to glare menacingly at Suigetsu. Jugo just sat calmly and proceeded to scatter the pieces of his blocks onto the ground.

"What?!" Suigetsu yelped, "W-Why'd you waste that good food?! You could'a given it to me!"

"It's for my friends." Jugo said patiently, and sure enough the birds from earlier began to flock down and peck at the small pieces of what was previously inedible blocks.

"And it's not a waste," Jugo began again, "They're priceless scouts- they've been keeping watch over the areas near here to keep us safe. It's the least we can do to thank them."

"May I..." Kate began. She was nervous about drawing attention to herself, but this was something she'd wanted to ask since she first woke up and saw Jugo's birds. "May I hold one? How do you get them to tolerate you? Where I come from-" She paused, and then adjusted herself a little, "Where I thought I came from... the wild birds never trusted anyone."

The group around her was quiet and then Jugo smiled a soft, serene smile that made her question if he really was a 'bad guy' at all.

"Of course." he answered quietly, and gently held his hand out to her. She wasn't sure what he wanted at first but quickly realized he wanted her hand. She held hers out and he gently grasped it. With his other free hand he gracefully adjusted a small bird from his shoulder to her hand. Kate was stunned. She could feel the little talons of it's feet on her fingers and feel it's weight register onto her wrist... and she smiled. It was her first time holding a bird and she was amazed. He'd let go of her hand and she was holding it by herself. It cheeped and chirped in her hand and she couldn't help but stare at it. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was still nervous and unsure, but at that moment she was absolutely positive that she didn't care what the truth of her circumstances were. For some reason she felt like she belonged here...here on her "bed roll" that just happened to be camped out near four wanted S-class criminal ninjas that as far as she knew could be imaginary or real. Everything was quiet. Only nature provided sound. They all sat there in quiet, taking it all in, waiting for her to start. And so, after letting the small bird flutter away to peck at the remaining crumbs, she did.

"I know that you're wondering who I am. And honestly, right now I'm wondering the same thing. Right now I'm being forced by circumstance to question every memory and feeling I've ever had and wonder if they were real or not. I'm confused, and scared, and quite honestly excited and upset at the same time. It's really... overbearing. So please understand that this is hard... I mean-"

"It's okay," Jugo said softly from where he sat still feeding the birds, "Just begin wherever you feel most comfortable."

Kate shook her head in the affirmative and sat for a minute gathering herself and preparing herself for explaining what she knew and how she knew it. The only question was, how do you explain it all and where to begin?

- - - - -

"All of my memories center around my life as I knew it. I was the only daughter of a wealthy middle class doctor who lived in the country with his wife. They adopted me when I was a baby and I soon became closely knit with my adoptive older brothers. I had friends, a fortune, and of course, health, freedom, and love. I didn't want for anything... but I still wanted things... don't we all?

In this place, this reality I knew, there were no ninjas, no chakra, no battles between mercenaries for villages. There were nations (I lived in one of the most powerful ones) and those nations battled each other with fire and weapons and bombs of unimaginable power, at least, for you guys it's probably unimaginable... People like me dreamed of living in other realities with adventure, or action, or romance because... well, because somehow our everyday lives weren't that interesting or worth paying attention to as the ones we could make up.

There were many popular books, movies, and manga that people immersed themselves into. For me, and many others, these was one named "Naruto", yes, as in Naruto Uzumaki your friend from the leaf, Sasuke. Everything that's happened, well I assumed it's happened, so far was detailed in that manga. From the looks of how Jugo's dressed and you guys work together, I'm assuming we're about... half-way from where I left off? I mean-"

"Does that mean you know the future? Like a fortune teller?" Suigetsu interrupted. Karin elbowed him harshly, while Sasuke's eyebrows rose.

"Um, sort of?" Kate answered, biting her lips from stress and uncertainty.

"Hn. Explain more. What do you know?"

"Is it going to rain tomorrow?" Suigetsu bit in again.

"Is he ever going to shut up?" Karin mumbled. Sasuke shot them both one single sharingan filled glare and the camp was quiet as death.

"Um, well... let's see... um, you guys just picked up Jugo, right?" They nodded in answer and she paused to recollect on what happened in the manga.

"Well, from here you guys go to an old secret Uchiha hide out in some abandoned city... and there's lots of cats and some old lady and... uh... should I really be telling you this?"

"Why would there be a problem with you telling us something?" Jugo asked, his curiosity seeping through his quiet demeanor.

"Because what happens if me telling you changes what will happen? What if everything's changed already? What-"

"Shut up."

The camp fell silent as Sasuke rose and crossed the small distance between them. He knelt down and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You'll tell us what you know when the times to tell us come. Until then you'll cooperate and we'll see how useful your are. Understood?"

"Um, y-yeah, I guess."

"If for a minute I feel you're useless to us or you turn on us, I'll eliminate you."

The camp was eerily quiet after that. Sasuke slowly sauntered back to his small blanketed area and then he bit out orders for the group to begin packing and then move out. Slowly, the rest of team Hawk turned and followed him and begun packing up.

Kate quickly moved to fold the blanket she'd been given and leave the meal bar for Suigetsu, which he took with a toothy smile and wink.

Maybe joining this group wasn't such a good idea after all? … At least for the time being, she was safe. She was going to be guarded by four powerful ninjas, one of whom was an Uchiha. And on top off that, she was officially part of team Snake (since they didn't turn "Hawk" till later) but that didn't mean everything was great. She was also just threatened... and on top of that... she wasn't sure she'd be that useful. She'd never finished the manga because it hadn't been finished... at least... as far back as she could remember. Now that she paused to think about it, she couldn't remember what was the last thing that happened. What... what was going on?

"Keito."

Kate turned around to find herself near Jugo. He was looking at her calmly.

"What? Who's Keito?"

"A-aren't you?" He asked, obviously surprised.

"Um, no, I said my name was Kate, right? Kate."

"Keito."

"No, KATE. K-A-T-E."

"You just said that, Keito."

"Argh! No, my name is- ugh, never mind. You obviously can't understand."

"Or you're just repetitive, princess." Karin spat from where she was busy adjusting her jacket. "The papers said your name is KeitoR1146. You've been arguing back and forth with Jugo for 3 minutes now and you've both been spouting the same name. Just let it drop princess."

Kate threw her a glare which Karin shot back just as fast. It was obvious theirs was to be a tumultuous relationship, since they were both girls who _needed_ to prove themselves to the same man, either for same or different reasons.

"Enough. Finish packing up. I'd like to get to the compound by mid-day." Sasuke said to the encampment, and then moved to his "perch" on a large rock formation.

- - - - -

The fire was covered with water (just in case) and the bed rolls were efficiently rolled up and then stored away in small scrolls that were located in a bag around Juugo's whole process was interesting to Kate. She'd never seen an object stored in a scroll before. To her amazement it was incredibly similar to the show interpretation. The item or items in question were placed on the scroll. Then a series of small hands signs were made and a smoke hazily began to form around the items. Soon the smoke enveloped the items, and then disappeared. Kate was astounded. Karin begrudgingly showed Kate numerous times how the items molded themselves in and out of the different scrolls.

It was decided that they'd travel in a diamond format (not that anyone was going to argue with Sasuke). Karin would lead the group in the front scouting for chakra while Suigetsu and Sasuke were behind her on the right and left ready for any possible attacks. Taking up the rear were Juugo and Kate, perched on his back. Kate didn't mind at first, it all sounded so organized and to her they were the professionals. She reminded herself that no matter how many times she'd read the manga and dreamed about being a ninja, she certainly wasn't one. And so they set out, traveling wherever Sasuke had ordered them since he was the only one who knew where the "Uchiha Compound" was.

Of course while traveling on tree branches was entertaining and exciting at first, it soon became as annoying as riding a horse. The continuous _up down up down up down _motions were driving her nuts, slowly. _Very _slowly. While Juugo's hold on her thighs was fine, strong and comforting, she could tell after a couple hours that she couldn't feel her toes. She was pretty sure her legs had fallen asleep. She'd decided that while the show and comic made it look simplistic and easy, in real life it was hell on her body. There was no such thing as a ninja Tarzan. The group in front of her was sweaty, panting and they smelled like cross country and dirt. Overall she wasn't sure what made her more nauseous, the movement of her 'ride' or the smell of them. On top of not being able to feel her feet, she was incredibly bored. It wasn't that she had a short attention span or anything like that (although it was probably true)...it was the fact that no one talked. At all. Ever. During the whole time. And everyone knows that a silent hour always feels longer than one that's talked through. Kate was devastated. This hadn't just been an hour of quiet. It'd been _many_ hours. And while she understood that they were ninjas, and ninjas were cautious and wary of possible attacks, this was too much quiet for her. So finally, with a lot of apprehension and nervousness (was it okay to talk?), she'd quietly whispered in Juugo's ear that she was bored and couldn't feel her toes. Of course, being the most understanding of the group, in Kate's opinion, he slowed down enough to shift her weight a little and allow her to stretch out her arms.

"Can we, talk a little?" She whispered.

"Well, I'm not very talkative and Sasuke likes his silence. He's given us a few good chakra filled hate glares for talking while traveling already..."

"Sounds like he's got a big stick up his ass... maybe he's just a closet gay and it's grating on him..."

Jugo chuckled and shifted her weight mid jump in between two limbs. It scared a startled gasp out of her and she tightened her grip around his neck. Sasuke visibly turned his head towards Jugo and glared.

"Jugo, careful. Don't injure her."

Kate could feel Jugo bristle under the gaze and knew that the criticism and suggestion that he'd injure _anything_ let alone _her_, bothered him. Maybe there was more to this team than the manga showed... one thing was for sure, she was going to find out.


	4. Chapter 4: Cats and Koi

After having worked their way through the forested areas and jumping down onto solid ground, the group continued on foot towards their destination: the supply compound located somewhere inside a dilapidated city.

Well, dilapidated didn't even cover it. "Skyward" City reminded her of what the Big Apple might look like after forty years after being left behind. The buildings' windows were eerily empty and they stood out against the stark sky that was swiftly beginning to cloud up. It looked like it might rain. They slowly made their way through the different districts until they came to a tunnel like opening with navy fabric overhang that fluttered in the slowly building wind.

"This is it." Sasuke said matter of fact.

"It's sketchy." Suigetsu said in reply. It looked like Sasuke was about to say something else, but Kate cut in.

"Shush. If you knew what was in here you wouldn't say that."

The group grew quiet and they all stared at her, primarily Sasuke, but then he shook his head and said, "Let's go.

- - - - -

The corridor seemed to stretch on forever. The pipes in the ceiling were the only thing that seemed to change (some jutted off into walls, others just ended abruptly), but that was very rare. The sound of their footsteps echoed along the halls like whispers.

"Jeez, I never knew we had a hideout in such a wasteland." Suigetsu said, while he kicked a loose piece of metal with his toe.

Sasuke seemed to pause, but he continued walking without looking back.

"This place has nothing to due with Orochimaru. It's a munitions store that my clan used to use."

That shut up all comments it seemed. Of course, Kate thought to herself, it was obvious no one wanted to be on Sasuke's bad side and therefore no one commented on his clan or anything related to it. She made a mental note to keep that in mind.

They slowly made their way through the tunnel with a few comments between Karin and Suigetsu from time to time. The corridors would split sometimes and Sasuke would lead the way down a different path, but all in all it was endless.

"It's like a fucking maze in here..." Suigetsu said, pulling out his water to slurp on.

"And it's irritatingly stifling." Karin finished for him.

"You're welcome to leave!" A new voice broke out. It seemed soft, but it echoed throughout the hallway.

The group turned and a small smile broke out on Sasuke's face. There on the ground behind them were two small cats. They were dressed in what appeared to be tiny kimono style shirts with small white bows keeping the fabric in place. There were Kanji symbols on their foreheads, but Kate couldn't read them.

"It's been a while, Denka, Hina."

The cat's replied by bowing slightly.

"I knew it. It _was_ that Sasuke boy." Denka said with a smirk (or so it seemed, Kate wasn't sure if cats smirked).

"So what are you here for?" Hina asked quietly, a soft meow following the sentence.

"Weapons and medicines, as well as some other things. We're preparing for the battle ahead."

Karin looked dumbfounded at seeing talking cats, while Suigetsu just grinned like a kid at Christmas.

"Wow, talking cats!" He said. He bent down and attempted to pet Denka, but the caramel brown cat hissed and made to claw him. "Whoa, calm down kitty!"

"They're ninja cats. Don't put your hand out to them like that. They'll rip it to shreds." Sasuke spat out.

"I wish you'd tell us this stuff beforehand." Suigetsu spat back. Karin just smirked at that, while Kate couldn't help out a giggle. The whole group seemed to lighten up at that.

"Did you bring us a gift?" Hina asked, looking up at Sasuke.

Sasuke seemed to expect this and his quickly pulled a small white bottle out of his white kimono top.

"I brought a bottle of catnip." He said, a small smile seeming to pull from the corners of his mouth.

As quick as anyone could blink Hina was behind Sasuke, the bottle in between her jowls.

"Much appreciated," she meowed out.

"I'll lead you to Grandma Cat." Denka said, skittering ahead of the group towards a bend in the path.

And so, they followed them.

- - - - -

As far as Kate was concerned, this was nothing like the manga or anime. Hell, this wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before. How could one place hold so many cats? This woman clearly went _beyond_ crazy cat lady.

The room consisted of a high ceiling and many shelves. What was clearly the "lucky cat"* sculpture was hung everywhere. Paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, while a large curtain to the left wall hid shelves upon shelves of clothes, armor, munitions, and food. Many multi-colored rugs scattered the floor, where hundreds of cats played, ran, meowed, slept, etc. In the center of the room, an old woman sat hunched over, surround by yet another group of cats. Beside her, demurely sitting in a kneeled position, was a younger woman, whom Kate assumed was her daughter or granddaughter. Books and bottles were piled everywhere to the point where cats could prance all the way to the ceiling if they climbed them. All in all, Kate was reminded of her old bedroom before she'd left: utter chaos.

"Welcome back, Sasuke. It's been far too long." The old woman spoke up. In Kate's opinion her voice could rival that of a cat coughing up a hairball. Her long gray hair was so wavy and frizzy it stretched out into the air, untangled and scratchy looking. The only thing that tamed it away from her face was a headband with fake cat ears on it. Her nose was painted and fake whiskers we drawn over her cheeks and wrinkles. To Kate it seemed silly, but perhaps to the old woman it was some sort of "cat tribal ritualistic paint" or something similar.

"They came here to get supplies, Grandmother Cat." Hina spoke out. She easily sauntered up to the old woman and dropped the bottle from her mouth into the woman's waiting hand. "They brought cat nip."

At the word the cats in the whole room went silent.

"How pleasing," the old woman whispered to Hina, whom she began to pet. She then looked up to the other cats, "We'll open it later with our tea. Back your own business. Now," she began again, looking up to the group before her, "What do you need?"

Sasuke spoke up first.

"We'll need food packs to last a few months, a few weapons replaced, and clothes for these two." He said, referring to Jugo and Kate. "I'll also need a supply kit similar to the ones my father used to use." A small moment of quiet, but tense, understanding passed between the old woman and Sasuke.

"I see." She said more to herself than to the room.

"I'll see about dressing these two, grandmother." The girl sitting next to the old woman said. The old woman nodded in reply and then began to talk to the cats, instructing them on where to run throughout the building to get the supplies they'd need.

Suigetsu went about finding which cats _weren't_ able to talk and then swiftly went about playing with them. Karin simply stood and tried to avoid them.

Meanwhile, the young granddaughter moved towards the curtained area and started going through boxes of clothing, looking for things that would fit either Jugo or Kate. After going through several boxes, she finally found a single pair of pants that would fit Jugo's waistline. Although he wasn't fat (he was well built and muscled) he was large in stature, nearly reaching the ceiling. Now that Kate looked at him, she knew he could easily be 6'8''. Compared to her measly 5'4'' he was a giant. The girl was now scrambling to find a shirt big enough.

"Ne, grandmother! There aren't any shirts big enough!"

Kate didn't even listen to the grandmother's reply. If she remembered correctly, she knew what conversation had just taken place between the cat woman and Sasuke. He'd just told her... about Itachi.... Kate stood there, completely indecisive. Should she tell him? She knew what happened between the brothers... she knew about Madara... but what if it changed everything? And what if Sasuke didn't believe her?

"Keito."

What if everything she knew was wrong? So far it hadn't been, but there had been some things that had been different. Like her... she was different. Did her being here change the course of events that would-

"KEITO!"

She felt herself being shook. Snapping back to reality she saw Jugo infront of her, his arms seemingly squeezing her shoulders. He must have been the one shaking her. He looked worried...

"Keito, are you... okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"I... I think so. What happened?"

"She asked you a question and you didn't answer... it was as if you weren't even here."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm here..." she said softly. She turned to the girl as Jugo let go of her. "I'm sorry. What was your question?"

"Well," the girl said, her face looking perplexed and her fingers reaching to twist her hair, "It seems your so small... none of our shirts or pants would fit you. I'm not sure what to dress you in. The curtain worked fine for your friend here, but... you..."

"I'm can't be _that_ small, right?" Kate said, laughing a little. She looked at the girl and then realized that she was shorter than her. Much shorter. Just... just how short was she compared to these Narutoverse people? She looked around and noticed that everyone, even Karin, was at least a foot taller.

"Well, you sure look short to me," Suigetsu said evenly, snorting under his breath, "Might as well be a kid."

"Hey!" Kate snapped back, pointing a finger at him, "I'm NOT short! And I am _NOT_ a _KID_!"

"Whoa there tiger!" Suigetsu said with a whistle, "Don't go beating on me! You'll turn into a hellcat like this one over here!" he said, gesturing towards Karen who proceeded to slap him in retaliation.

"Stop it." Sasuke said, glaring at them as he rolled up a small satchel of bottles and books. "Grandmother Cat, do you have any kimonos from when the families used to stay here?" He asked. The old woman looked thoughtful for a second before she nodded. She slowly, and with what appeared to be a great amount of pain, stood and slowly began to walk. The cats seemed to part like the sea as they let her walk by. She walked behind yet another curtain and was gone for several minutes. Finally, after what felt like an awkward amount of time, she came out with a wooden box that was embedded with the familiar Uchiha Crest: the red and white fan.

"I've had this since the last time you visited... since the last time your mother was here. Believe it or not, Mikoto was of similar stature. She left a few of her kimonos here but after so much time a few of the moths and cats got to them. They were torn and lost. But this one... I saved this one. I'm sure you remember it Sasuke. She wore it every Spring and that last Spring you came here she wore it too. Why don't you try it on?" She asked, finally turning to Kate.

Now, Kate had never worn a kimono before. She'd always dreamed of wearing one and being beautiful, sitting under a cherry blossom tree and drinking tea demurely like the geisha. But of course, she was American through and through and the time never came. Until now, it seemed. She hesitantly made her way over to the old woman and gently took the box from her.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to take something of such great value from-"

"Wear it with pride. I'm sure she would be proud of you wearing it. You look so much like her..."

Kate was struck with surprise. Since when did she look like Mikoto Uchiha? Wasn't she thin and pale and dark haired? Wasn't she elegant and sweet? Now, Kate didn't know much, but one thing she did know is that she wasn't any of those things.

Before she had any time to argue the granddaughter had come behind her and moved her to an area without cats. She'd reached into Kate's hands and taken the box from her grasp. Before Kate knew it the kimono was released from the confines of the wood and the beautiful fabric shone. And beautiful it was. It was a pale pink with tiny white blossoms stitched into it around the collar and the sleeves. The obi was as perfect a teal as ocean waves, although it was far lighter due to age. It was stitched with colorful koi fish that leapt and bound over the fabric. A tiny pair of sandals and a small peach colored purse were also in the bottom of the box.

"Oh, wow!" Kate couldn't help but sigh out, "It's more beautiful than anything I've ever seen! Sasuke! You're mother had such exquisite taste! I hope I get to meet her when I die!" Kate's eyes were as big as saucers. How could she have said that?! She quickly turned around and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Ah! I'm so sorry Sasuke! I didn't mean it rudely!" She quickly bowed, (wasn't that how the asians did it?) and then quickly stood back up to see him looking at her. Not scowling, or angry, or even smiling, just... looking at her.

"Ahem, well, why don't we get you dressed in this?" the granddaughter spoke hesitantly. She gestured Kate towards another curtain and the two went behind it.

- - - - -

Not more than fifteen minutes later the duo walked out. The granddaughter came first, and finally, out came Keito. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. They'd brushed her long dark hair and braided it back into a long braid that hung over her shoulder. The kimono fit her well, and she wore it elegantly. She gently held the little purse in her small hands, and then, he saw the sandals. Never, in all his years, had he ever met a woman with his mother's feet. And here was this lab experiment child, walking in her shoes! To Sasuke, it was like a stake to the heart... for here was his mother seemingly reincarnated. She even had that same, blooming smile... it would start small and hesitant but then eventually bloom into a full fledged smile that would be contagious. How...? How was he supposed to react to this?

Suigetsu and Jugo were clapping and Karin was huffing and fuming at the attention Keito was receiving. Keito did a little bow, her smile now beaming, and then she twirled in place, the colorful pinks and teals and fish swirling around her. And then Sasuke saw it: the Uchiha fan, neatly stitched into the collar. Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He _wouldn't_ take it.

"That's it. We're leaving. Grab the cloaks and get packed." He spat out. He hastily grabbed his own cloak and walked out of the building at a fast pace.

- - - - -

The room was entirely quiet. Kate was honestly worried she'd offended Sasuke somehow, but didn't seem to affect the rest of the group.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" Suigetsu asked, while slurping away and picking up his cloak.

"Be quiet you! How dare you say that about Sasuke!?" Karin said, infuriated and all ready to pick a fight with Suigetsu.

"Ugh, this again?" Kate asked out loud.

"So it would seem." Jugo answered.

And so they packed up and filed out where Sasuke had walked out.


	5. Chapter 5: Protect

Author's Note: To all my readers-

Thanks so much for reading. It really does mean a lot to me. Also, I can't thank you enough for being so patient and apologize for my absence. I've spent most of my time in hospitals and going through lots stuff that's out of the norm. I only recently started feeling well enough to write again. Expect rapid updates for a good while. ;)

-GS18

* * *

After leaving the building, the group found themselves outside in the rain. Kate hid under the eaves of the doorway in the hopes that her new, beautiful kimono wouldn't get soiled. But then Jugo calmly walked over and picked her up bridal style, startling her into yelping.

"Wha?"

"Don't worry. I'll hide you in my cloak till it stops. Plus you'll be warmer."

Kate couldn't help but blush being so close to Jugo. He was so calm and and warm. And to top it all off they hadn't found a shirt big enough, so she was pressed up against his warm, bare chest! She figured she looked like a tomato, clinging to him under the rain proof cloak. He adjusted her so her head popped out next to his where the hood was so that the hood covered her head as well. She could see the others waiting for them in the rain- Suigetsu smiling like a kid because of all the water, Karin sulking and shooting glances at Sasuke, and Sasuke... glaring at her. Or was he glaring a Jugo? Kate couldn't be sure, but he definitely didn't look happy.

* * *

"Let's go. We need to get to the inn in the next city by nightfall and the rain will only slow us down." Sasuke barked out, ordering them to move. And move they did. Kate felt like a wallaby clinging to a tree as she clung desperately to Jugo's body and they ran at a pace she never could imagine. Was this what running with chakra felt like? Was it really this fast? She was broken from her thoughts as Jugo's arms came up to hold her tighter to him. It was comforting and she leaned into him more, and felt herself nodding off. Maybe this was what it felt like to be rescued damsel she thought to herself...and then she was asleep.

When Kate woke up, she was in a japanese style room. The rain was still pattering outside and she could hear it on the roof above her head. There were open windows which showed the city outside was bustling although wet. Where... had they reached the inn already? She quickly sat up and patted her body. She still had her kimono on, so she figured that Jugo had just "tucked" her into bed and then let her sleep. Were they gone? Had they left her for good? Abandoned her? Or were they just next door? Outside?

She leapt up off of the floor (it was a Japanese style cot) and hurried to the door. It was wooden and easily slid to the right allowing her to see out into the hallway. She looked to the left, then the right. No one. All the other doors were closed. Should she knock on them? She shook her head and ventured towards what appeared to be the end of the hall. A dark stairwell lead to a lower floor that was also empty. Was this really an inn? Weren't there usually a lot of people in inns? Suddenly a door flew open and in came the group, carrying a heavily injured Sasuke.

"Guys? Sasuke? Are you-is he okay?"

Jugo looked up and roughly shook his head and then proceeded to help the limping dark-haired teen up the steps. Karin followed, looking nervous and ignoring her, while Suigetsu traveled back out the door into the rain. They continued up the stairs back to where she'd left the door open and roughly pulled it farther. The group seemed to tumble into the room and soon, Sasuke was in tucked into the cot that Kate had just gotten up from.

Kate couldn't fathom for a second what happened. And then it all clicked. Had Sasuke just fought Deidara? That had to be an explanation.

_That's right! _She thought, _in the manga, they took refuge in a motel after the battle because Sasuke was injured!_

"So you won against Deidara! Which means you've met Ma-I mean, Tobi!" Kate said out loud.

Karin who was in the middle of healing Sasuke (by means of biting and the like) turned to Kate with a scowl.

"Just what are you going on about? Can't you see we're trying to help Sasuke? And what are you doing other than standing there?" She spat out.

Kate couldn't help but scowl herself.

"If you hadn't of left me here in the first place, I could have saved him the trouble of fighting at all. He didn't have to kill Deidara, let alone fight him! When Itachi wants to be found, he'll come find Sasuke himself."

"The hell does that mean?" Karin shot back. She stood up and began to walk towards Kate menacingly, but Jugo held her back. Karin swiftly turned around and pointed a finger at him.

"And you! You're always protecting her? Why? Sasuke didn't want her around anymore! No one wants her around! She's nothing but baggage! But you, you're so adamant about keeping her! Got yourself a little crush? Hmph, why don't you freaks stick together?"

Jugo's face seemed flitter between being shocked to angry to looking lost. That's what spurred Kate to action.

"Hey!" Kate shouted out, walking towards Karin and pulling her hair gently so she'd stop holding Jugo, "leave him alone! This is between you and me!"

"Why you! I ought'a-"

"ENOUGH!" Sasuke's voice rang out through the room. "Karin, leave the room. I'm sick of your envious fighting. Jugo, come help me wrap the bandage around my back. Keito, sit. I have a lot of questions for you."

Kate shivered. That did _not_ sound good. Karin glared at her and heavily walked out of the small room, slamming the sliding door behind her. Jugo calmly moved to kneel beside Sasuke and proceeded to wrap the last of the bandages around him. When he was finished, the three of them sat quietly and waited for Sasuke to begin.

After what seemed like an awkward, tense quiet, Sasuke began.

"You fell asleep while we were traveling. We deposited you here and then proceeded normally; picking up odd jobs to earn money for supplies and rooms while we travel. We were hired to find leftover bombs in a forge not far from here. One exploded under my watch."

"Oh." Kate said, feeling stupid. Not only had she assumed wrongly, she'd given away a possibly deadly secret.

"Now, firstly. Ever since we picked you up, you've acted strangely. You knew us. How?"

Kate froze. How... how was she supposed to explain this? How could she possibly explain a manga and anime from a foreign world? She had to think quick, and wisely. She began to act hesitant and worried on purpose, while inside she thought desperately for "answers".

"I... I..."

"You what?" Sasuke asked in a deadpan voice.

"I'm able to watch things from a distance... like, when I was in my own world, I could see things of this world and..." she hesitated, " see the events of the future happen." She finished lamely.

"And by your world you mean the tank?" Jugo asked.

"Yes." She answered, sounding resolute. "The thing is, I know about most everyone of importance in the interweaves of this world's fate. I saw many things that are going to happen, as far as I know, and a lot of it has already happened. It's how I knew about Grandmother Cat, even before we went there. I could tell you all about your childhoods if you wanted, even things you may have not told anyone, things you thought or felt. But see, it's all messed up now, I think. Well, at least I'm worried about it. In my world, I was an omnipotent presence. I didn't affect anything or interact with any of you. But now... I'm here. Talking. Does that change the course of fate I saw? Has it already? Or will that only happen if I tell you of things I saw in your possible futures? I'm sorry. I'm so _so _sorry... I don't... I..."

"Stop." Sasuke asked quietly. For the first time, he sounded unsure to her. "I'm..." He continued, "Unsure as to what to do with you, or of what use you could be. Jugo and I have talked about it alone. He agrees with me that there's a reason Orochimaru kept you in there. After what you told us, I can only assume he used you as some sort of viewing glass into the future and past. However, if what you say is true, then your supposed foresight was only accurate when you were in captivity. Now, you're just like us; lots of ideas and possibilities but no concretes." He sighed deeply and then his brows furrowed in thought.

Jugo looked at him with a concerned, yet compassionate look on his face before he spoke. "Sasuke, stop. You can't omit her like you said, and I'm not saying that because I don't like throwing people away. Remember Orochimaru's notes? The dimensional slip? We haven't asked-"

"Dimensional slip?" Kate interrupted softly, "Um, I may know something about that... I think..."

Both heads shot up and the two men stared intently at her.

"I didn't want to have to talk about this, because I didn't know how to explain it and I was nervous around you." she sighed, "I don't know where I'm from. Like which land I hail from. I have faint memories of that place, and certain people, but I don't know where that place is in relation to here. Perhaps he considered that place, where it was, another dimension?" She finished hesitantly.

She honestly didn't remember a lot about her home. She remembered odd, random things like how her car sounded when it didn't want to turn on, or random TV episodes, and even what her cat looked like when she was bathed, but the people and places were hazy, and foreign sounding. It was as if she'd somehow had all of the important things erased. And it scared her. But she couldn't explain the complexity of everything that had happened to these people. As much as she liked them, both from what she'd read of them and what she'd seen of them here, how could she possibly explain the horrible feeling of remembering a car, but not what it did, or why there weren't any here?

They all sat thinking hard and the room was filled with quiet. Suddenly Kate was struck with a feeling of bravery and asked the question she'd been meaning to ask since they'd left Grandmother Cat's.

"Sasuke," he looked up at her, "Why are you angry with me? I know I haven't been useful, but did I do something wrong?"

A small moment of shock seemed to hit his face before it passed quickly and was replaced by furrowed brows.

"I'm not angry." He stated calmly. "I'm frustrated."

Jugo and Kate looked at him, waiting. After a few long moments, he continued.

"It's been a long, hard time since I last saw that kimono, let alone the Uchiha fan on another person other than me and... him." he sighed deeply before looking at her with a deep look, "You also look remarkably like her. She had similar childish features at your age and acted just as bubbly. It's unnerving for me at times because..." he trailed off into murmuring, but neither listener corrected him. Both knew the depth of how hard talking openly was, let alone about his "feelings" and "opinions".

Kate moved to kneel closely beside him and gently placed herself to the left of him. She calmly leaned towards him, even when he stared at her and gave her a shocked look. And then she hugged him.

Later, everyone came back and they all settled into their bedding and nodded off to sleep... All except Sasuke. He lay there on his side, looking over at the softly sleeping Keito. Sasuke wasn't really sure what to think anymore. He'd always believed that his point in life was straight forward: avenge the clan. However, now things didn't seem that way. Something, or more specifically some_one_, had changed it.

He sighed deeply as he sat up in his futon his elbows resting on his knees, his hands holding his jaw while his fingers felt like clawing into his temples from the stress of it all. He'd taken off his arm bandages and some of his chest ones (merging with the Snake Sanin had proved useful with healing). His white cotton shirt that he'd been wearing hung limply off his shoulders and he'd left his sandals at the door to the room. He glanced towards them, only to see a smaller, second pair laid out beside them. It made him sigh and his whole body tense, reminding him of the small body on the bed that was next to him.

He turned back to look at the scratchy white sheets, to see the small, delicate hand wrapped up in the linen as if it was a stuffed animal. He mentally growled at himself for even thinking of holding it in his own hand, but then fell silent, thinking of why he would think that way to begin with.

He felt like growling again. Since when had he grown soft? What had happened to the hatred and cool exterior he'd striven for ever since leaving that god forsaken village? The village...

His thoughts strayed to the village, walking beside Itachi when he was little, his father's face, his mother... his gentle mother, staring out at the flowers in the garden, her face passive but smiling, her dark hair swaying with the slight Spring breeze... and then his mind conjured up the image of his mother, so happy on festival day wearing that same beautiful kimono, his father smiling the only smile Sasuke had ever witnessed... and finally, Sasuke thought of the dark girl with the gentle blue eyes, staring out at him with the same gentle, childish face as his mother, smiling that same soft smile his mother had worn on every day...

And now here was the same girl. Sasuke looked at her, memorizing her appearance: Pale in the moonlight against the stiff white sheets, long dark hair spread out over the pillows like ocean waves and vine tendrils, eyes closed, long lashes sweeping across her childlike face, her dainty lips dry and pink. She looked beautiful. Eerie, in the window's light, but beautiful.

Sasuke (begrudgingly) had to admit that he'd watched her ever since they'd found her. At first, she'd looked like a lost child, and acted like one, acting giddy, talkative, and, loud... but then, after the initial shock of what had apparently happened to her blew over... she grew quiet, passive, appeared highly intelligent,and watchful. She seemed to practically be the definition of natural beauty and childlike innocence, although she was obviously a woman. She wasn't attention seeking. She wasn't obvious like Karin, or abrasive like Sakura had been when he was younger. She radiated comfort, and she had affected change in everyone she'd encountered so far, even during the short time she'd been out of her prison-like tank. Juugo had begun to talk more often, and he had become less prone to solitude. Suigetsu had seemed to complain less and to listen more (usually an impossibility). And lastly, Karin had become less bossy, easier to be around, even if the two were bound to quarrel. Overall, she'd been an excellent addition to their team, even though she had no special skills to speak of.

Out of all the women Sasuke had ever encountered, there was only one woman she seemed similar to: his mother.

Before, when he'd first made the connection, seen the resemblance, he'd been flustered and angry. Her presence brought up thoughts of his mother, and all he'd lost thanks to Itachi. It made him remember how she'd looked dead, her blood spilled over the wooden floors, his father's eyes empty, suspended in a look of horror.

It also made him question what he really thought of her.

The conflicting thoughts between finding her attractive and comparing her to his mother bothered him. Did that mean he found his mother attractive in that way? No. So why was he somehow combining the two? It was overly complex and he wasn't one prone to thinking about interpersonal relationships unless they related to himself and Itachi (and killing him).

Sasuke continued to stare at her, and think back to what had made her end up like this. And the more Sasuke thought about it, the more he realized that he was angry with himself more than Orochimaru or even Karin. A few weeks ago he would have been able to brush off his irritations and keep his interactions and feelings terse and cold. But now, after all that had happened, after the way they'd spoken and the quiet understanding she'd shown, he couldn't.

When he thought about it, no matter how harshly he'd spoken to her, no matter how irritating Karin was to her... she'd only ever had the same reactions.

Pity. Compassion. Forgiveness.

It shocked him into a stunned state. How could she do that? And then Sasuke made the connection.

His mind flashed him the image of his mother in the same kimono, the smile on her face, the image overlapping with Keito's own face as she whirled around in the same clothes. The image of his mother's face as she lay on the floor, a corpse... it hadn't been a face of horror like his father...

Suddenly, clearer than he'd ever seen it, his mind remembered that night. He remembered his mother's face frozen in an image of compassion and sadness, her eyes glazed over, wet tracks of fresh tears left along her cold skin...

She'd forgiven him. His mother had forgiven Itachi. Sasuke couldn't help but begin crying quietly, his face in his hands, his mouth open in a silent scream of anguish. How? Why? So many things passed through his mind.

But in that moment Sasuke knew.

This girl was just like his mother: beautiful and childlike, a strong, gentle woman with a small figure, who stared at the world around her with a calm face and an open mind... He'd never been able to protect his mother... his beautiful, gentle mother...

But fate had found him this girl. This reincarnation of her...

And he would protect her, he swore silently, he would protect her. He sniffed lightly and wiped the moisture off of his face with his arm. He glanced back at Keito, still sleeping softly nearby.

Sasuke finally stopped denying himself and let his left hand travel to hold her small one. She was so fragile it seemed, no matter how strong and happy she appeared to be. And he swore to himself he'd make sure she'd never break.

For once, Sasuke Uchiha understood what it felt like to protect something other than the dead.

And it left him silent, sitting watchfully over her as she slept.


	6. Chapter 6: Mornings

The next day Kate woke up early, so early in fact that everyone else was still asleep. The first thing she was aware of, as she opened her eyes, was a heavy warmth surrounding her hand. Glancing to her left hand, she was shocked into a jolting motion. There was Sasuke, sleeping _right_ next to her, his hand gently covering hers. Kate honestly didn't know what to do or how to react. A good part of her felt like having a good old fashioned fan-girl squeal at having _the_ Uchiha Sasuke holding her hand _willingly_, but the other part paused. She'd never seen him, never imagined him, this soft and relaxed. She smiled. Forget fan girl ways, she thought, I'm going to live in this world as it is and look at the people as they are. Sasuke, she sighed mentally, enjoy the quiet while we have it.

Soon after she fell back to sleep, enjoying the warmth in the center of her palm and the feeling of safety that accompanied it.

The next time she woke up, it was to the noise of Karin and Suigetsu quarreling while the group got ready for breakfast. Kate sat up and rubbed her eyes, while sneakily peaking at Sasuke.

"What are you staring at?" Karin snapped at her.

"What?" Kate stuttered. She had thought she'd been subtle but then again, she was in a room full of ninjas...

"Get up, and fold up your tatami mat."

"Um, my what?"

"Your bed roll, you idiot!"

"Oh!"

By the time Kate had folded her bed roll and breakfast had arrived by way of a small woman in a kimono from downstairs, Kate was red in the face with embarrassment. _Ugh! _She thought, _this whole handholding ordeal has left me so girly around Sasuke! I must get this out of my mind! But how? HOW? _She franticly looked around the room and noticed that breakfast was rice with eggs and some other things she was unfamiliar with. _RICE!_ She thought. And proceeded to eat her morning crush away.

Sasuke woke up feeling wonderful. Which wasn't good. It meant his guard was down. Which meant he could be dead any second. He instantly went on the defensive and put all of his senses to work, figuring out why he was feeling so unguarded. No, it wasn't where he was, he distinctly felt the chakra of his team, Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu. No, his sword wasn't missing, it was right there by his side. No, he wasn't in a genjutsu, he'd feel the chakra signature. But... what was that tingle in his hand? That warmth? He cracked an eye open to see a hand in his. And it all came back to him.

Keito.

He quickly withdrew his hand while surveying the room. Everyone else was asleep. Good. No one needed to know of his weakness. His unguarded state. Mostly anyone in this room. As a ninja those closest to you were always those you kept nearest and farthest as well. It was an unspoken rule.

Looking back at her, he hated to wake everyone, most of all her, but he knew he needed to. Today was going to be an important day.

Sasuke woke everyone up and everyone got moving. By the time breakfast came around, everthing was moving smoothly except for Keito blushing around him. It frustrated him to no end. Had Karin done something to her? They were acting like twins now. Then, came the rice incident. The maid came in with the breakfast he'd had ordered for everyone and as soon as Keito saw the rice she dove for it, sitting down promptly and digging into it like she hadn't eaten in days. The room fell silent and watched as she finished her bowl of rice and two eggs so fast she made Suigestu sick just watching her. "You have some on your face." Sasuke had said to her, and all she did in reply is "meep" and blush so red she looked like a beet. Breakfast grew quiet after that.

And that led to now.

Now, Sasuke sat wondering how he could do this, but knew he had to.

"Sasuke," Suigestu called to him quietly, "what's today's agenda?"

"Today, we test Keito." Sasuke spoke calmly.

"T-test?" Keito stuttered out.

"Yes. You need to prove your worth. If you're not worthwhile you'll be thrown away. Yesterday, I received word of a group of missing-nins in a province North of here. There are 12 of them. Thirteen if you include the animal user's canine partner. Our goal for today is to kill all of them. Keito, your goal is to kill three. If you fail, you forfeit either your place on this team or your own life. It depends on how you do. Do I make myself clear?" Sasuke spoke calmly. He looked at Keito, who looked calm, but anxious.

"Yes, Sasuke." She said. "Very. Will I be given any weapons?"

"Are you proficient in any?"

"I like kitchen knives." She said calmly. "But other than that, I don't know anything."

"Then we'll get you some knives."

And with that, the day began.

After having packed their weapons and gotten ready from the inn, they left. Kate walked towards the back of the group as they walked into the town around the building. It was a large down, but not large enough to be considered a city. After walking past different shops and stands for what felt like a good 30 minutes they finally came upon a small stand that had weapons. Small knives all the way up to katanas and long swords and bows with arrows. Sasuke stopped at the stand for a few minutes and then called Kate over. Kate walked over hesitantly but then skipped over the last few steps.

"Yes?" She asked.

"How about this?" Sasuke asked. He held out his hand that was holding a knife that was around 10 inches long with a 4 ½ in handle. It was simple and came with a simple leather holster that would wrap around her hips. Kate could hardly contain her excitement.

"Perfect." She told him, eyes shining.

"Hn." He answered back, and turned back to the vendor to buy it. Soon, the knife was in it holster around Kate's hip and Kate was in Juugo's arms, being carried to their destination. Kate decided that while hopping from tree to tree looked clean and easy in the show and comic, it wasn't quite so comfortable and natural in real life. There was a lot of zig zagging and leaping and near missing of branches and all sorts of things going on. Plus everyone was traveling on chakra, so it was hard on the body. After Sasuke's decision that she was going to be tested came up, Kate was terrified. She didn't know anything about ninjas or kung fu. Hell, she didn't even know how to land a punch or kick on someone. And she'd already been raped once in her life and had to go through therapy to get over that. She wasn't going to relive feeling helpless again. Never again, she decided. She wasn't worthless. So she agreed. She wasn't going to run away. She felt safe with Sasuke and his team. She was part of Team Hawk. And it was going to stay that way. Even if she had to kill three missing-nin men with her knife.

The up down over and under of the whole tree-leaping fiasco was getting to her stomach. She hoped the stopped soon... soon, she'd have to kill those men, and earn her place among the ninja.


	7. Chapter 7: Fall Apart

When the group finally stopped, they were in a large rock quarry about 13 or 14 miles from the small town where they'd started out. They were a little tired, but now was when they were getting ready. Kate was on edge, as was the rest of the team. This was where the tip off said the missing-nin were. Looking around though, all Kate could see were the quarry workers, mining the rock. Turning to Sasuke where they were hiding in the trees, she nudged him.

"Sasuke." She spoke in a whisper.

"Hn?"

"Where are they? Hiding as workers?"

"Most likely. We'll have to attack all of them and fight them all. It's the only way to root out the real fighters. Karin, Suigetsu, and I will lead the initial attack, scaring away all of the workers who aren't ninja. My sources say these nin like to fight whoever challenges, so they won't run. Then, we'll challenge them as a team. Stay hidden until I give you a sign."

And with that they fell out of the trees, Sasuke pulling Kate along. Kate barely held in her scream of surprise and just as soon was on the ground in Sasuke's arms, which only led to her blushing and scrambling to be let down onto solid ground.

"Alright already," Suigetsu said, spitting onto the ground, "Let's go beat shitheads up!"

"Idiot."Karin breathed out into the air.

And with that they were gone out into the clearing.

Suigetsu normally didn't mind Sasuke's orders. Hell, normally, he didn't give two flying shits about anything, so long as he got something out of it. Like a place to sleep, or breakfast, or that stupid shark's sword. But this time, something bothered him. And it wasn't just the fact that he was only getting to beat people up mercilessly and kill them without anything but breakfast on his stomach. No, it was the fact that they were having Keito kill them too. Keito who seemed so innocent and special... why would Sasuke... to Suigetsu, it seemed wrong almost. She was so short she looked like a child, and while Suigetsu had killed as a child, he couldn't see _this_ specific child killing anyone or any_thing_. He'd seen her in the marketplace holding that pitiful knife Sasuke had bought her... as if she'd kill anything with _that._ She'd seemed calm when given orders, but he knew a lier when he saw one. He was ninja. He knew how to fake calm too. But you can't fake what she had to do... you can't fake killing... and for that Suigetsu was worried.

Kate could hardly breathe as she watched real ninjas go into battle. First Sasuke had literally appeared in front of the workers, blade drawn, face etched in stone, ready to strike. Then Suigetsu dove down on another group with his huge blade open facing them, scaring them into beginning to run away. Finally Karin appeared, hands holding many knives, throwing them everywhere, aiming past joints and toes, scaring many into bushes and trees. Soon, all that was left were a small group, that stood spread across the quarry, one man even had a large dog attached to a sled carrying rocks. A large man with long black hair and a bandanna carrying a pickaxe started laughing and then began to talk.

"Seems like we got a new batch of ninjas after us boys! Alright! Well we're the missing-nin group known as the Iron-Wrens. What do you call your team, you wimps?"

Sasuke and the group rounded together, and then Sasuke waved to Kate, who quickly got up and walked out into the small valley of grey. She carefully walked in her kimono over to the Hawks and stood beside Sasuke.

"We are team Hawk." Sasuke said simply.

"Team Hawk, eh?" The big muscled man asked, "What's your names? We always ask before we kill."

"Hn. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Juugo."

"Karin."

"Suigetsu."

"Kate."

"Keito? Is that what this little midget calls herself?"

"Midget? I'm not a midget you ass!" Kate yelped out. "I'm 20 you asshole!"

Everyone was quiet in the clearing. Even Sasuke was staring at her. Kate was getting nervous when Suigetsu was the first to speak.

"You're really 20? You're old! I'm like 17!"

"Enough of these lies! I'm not playing around with killing an child with a toothpick knife. I want to fight real ninjas. You, you said you're an Uchiha? I want to fight you! Now!" And with that the big man threw the axe down and instead motioned over to his friend who brought over a thick sword for him to use. Sasuke merely motioned for him to step forward. The man only looked at him for a second and then suddenly they were both gone.

"Wha-where did they go?" Kate asked out loud.

"They're in fighting over there." Suigetsu pointed over to the right where sure enough the two were sword fighting very fast. But just as suddenly the swords were gone and then Sasuke was standing over a broken body. And then walking calmly back to where they all were standing.

"Wow." Kate said quietly out loud, "Some missing-nins. When I thought battles against Sasuke I figured a lot more struggling. But I guess they're just not that good. That, or Sasuke's just amazing."

"It's the second one." Suigetsu said, smirking at her.

"Oh, okay." She said, smiling back at him.

"Take that back!" One of the missing-nin said.

"No!" Kate snapped back. She'd defend Sasuke, since he'd saved her from Orochimaru apparently. He'd saved her. He'd brought her here to this place. This Naruto-verse reality.

"Then I challenge you."

"Me too."

"We all do you little bitch."

Kate felt her body go numb and her mind say _shit_. But she knew she had to do this for Sasuke. He'd asked her to kill three men for him. Three. Not all... but _all_ would make him proud. And would make him want her to _stay. _Stay for good.

"Then so be it you assholes." She heard herself say. She felt like she wasn't herself but she didn't really care. All she cared about was killing them, and earning her place at Sasuke's right hand. She wanted to be there for him. To be reliable. To be the one to protect him from Itachi when the time came, to protect him from Madara when he came too... she would be there, shielding him from the evils of the world. She had to. Otherwise she was useless, worthless. Again. And she wouldn't be worthless.

When she looked up, she was surrounded on all sides by missing-nin with her team no where to be found. She reached for her knife and tried to grasp it but it was ripped from her side and suddenly she was being stabbed with it while being pushed and punched and there was pain rippling from her side and suddenly it was everywhere at once, pain pain pain. They were laughing, ripping at her clothes. She could feel the breeze and a nakedness and a crunching pain in her ankle and the fear of rape from the past came crashing back again paralyzing her. All she could think was _go away go away go away_ over and over until it became a feeling inside her body, a physical push from the inside. It became a sizzling shock the travelled from her core throughout her body to her arms and legs to a scream and came out through her mouth and hands encasing everything that was touched by either the sound waves directly in front of her or her hands or body. In which case the men around her and the rocks. The men were blown away from her, by what appeared to be a huge force that knocked them a few feet away from her. Their bodies rolled and shuddered and trembled. And they were still.

Kate could barely think past _thank you._

But she didn't get to finish her thoughts. Suddenly, their bodies were shaking violently like they were having seizures. they moved jerkily, seeming to trying to stand up on thier own, but by the time that they had crawled to their knees in a kneeling position, their bodies were jerking even more. When she opened her eyes she saw one of them, his head turned to face her, and that's when she saw it.

His face was falling apart. Literally.

The tissues on the right side of his cheek were literally peeling off and falling into the grass underneath him. As the individual face muscles and skin fragments snapped, the veins running through them would snap as well, letting blood flow freely from the rips and tears.

The erosion process kept going. His eyes were wide and a startled scream erupted from his throat as the skin around his right eyeball deteriorated and the muscles holding it ripped. The eyeball itself easily slipped out of it's socket, followed by copious amount of blood that joined the stream that flowed from the now mostly bony face. The last bits of muscle that held his jaw in place were gone, and the right side of his jaw promptly dislocated, creating an even stranger sound from the slowly 'evaporating' throat. Kate could literally see the muscles of his throat vibrating, desperately trying to finish their process of allowing him to scream his agony, but failing as they fell apart. The fabric around his arms and stomach was beginning to bulk out due to the skin and muscles breaking apart inside, letting the internal organs lead out into the only thing holding them in: his clothes. His screams had stopped, to become nothing more than a disgustingly wet wheezing sound that came from where his throat should have been, but now only his spinal chord was. His hair had all fallen off, and his skull was slowly deteriorating, letting the brain's fluid seep out through the cracks.

Soon, he was nothing more than a shaking, wheezing pile of bones and organs that continued running only because of a last minute instinctive survival attempt. Even his clothes had begun to break apart. It was disgusting. Blood was everywhere, and Kate could swear she could hear his last screams echoing inside her head. She hadn't even been able to scream she'd been so shocked. She'd done nothing but sit there, wide eyed, terrified of the real life horror movie in front of her.

By the time Kate gained enough strength of mind to tear her eyes away from the carnage, she looked around her and realized that the same had happened to all of them. Every single one of them. All she'd done was wish them to go away... and now her body looked like she'd burned it. Deep red blisters were forming on her body, and it stung horribly. She felt wetness on her face and reached up. She realized she was crying, sobbing hysterically, gasping for air she couldn't breathe in. What had she done? What _was _that?

-S**nap-**

Kate's head shot up and her eyes, although still wet, were alert. _Not another one, _Kate silently begged. She cringed when she saw a dark shape approach her, but then her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Sasuke.

He walked into the clearing, avoided a pile of... and walked up to where Kate sat, shaking uncontrollably, obviously happy to see him, but unable to get over her shock. He knelt down in front of her, and to her surprise, hugged her to his chest. She began crying again, listening to the smooth beat of his heart, feeling the warmth of his body and the weight of his arms around her. She wasn't alone anymore. She was safe.

"Keito." Sasuke spoke, and for once, Kate didn't care what he sounded like. He could have sounded like he wanted to kill her, but she wouldn't care. It was familiar, it was comforting, it was Sasuke. She looked up and was met with bright swirling black and red.

"Sleep."

And everything went black.


	8. UpDaTe: Moving and new chapters!

Hi guys, long time no update, right?

Sorry about that… *sighs*

Well, to be honest, it's . It's something I don't frequent enough to post stuff on? So I'm slowly rewriting and moving all of this stuff over to my deviantart account, Torafox. Please find me there if you really like my writing?

New chapters of "A Second Chance" (now, "Another Chance") will be posted this week! Plus, now with ARTWORK to accompany it!

3

Much love guys,

GrimSpeck a.k.a Torafo


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